Spring has Sprung

Pardon my excitement as I cartwheel over the fact that we made it through another winter. Did I mention I hate winter? I hate it. I hate snow, I hate cold, I hate wind and ice. I even hate winter sports - skiing? No thank you. There is nothing worse in my mind than being cold and outside on the top of a frightfully large mountain surrounded by people that may or may not know how to control themselves on expensive popsicle sticks.

Joe tried to teach me how to ski one winter. He put me in a lesson. I was older than the instructor (not cool). And when I mastered the bunny hill (along with my six and four year old sidekicks) he took me on the big kid lift. I skied off the lift like a pro, looked down and promptly sat on my duff and clicked out of my skis. When he asked me what I was doing I told him I was walking down the mountain.

Apparently you are not allowed to do that. Did you know you aren't allowed to walk down? I didn't either. So I said, no problem, I'll just catch the lift back to the bottom. Um, yeah, you're not allowed to do that either.

Somewhere between each of these realizations I began to cry as I saw my life flash before my eyes. So down the mountain I skied, with Joe holding my tips together and skiing backwards. We got down the mountain and, frankly, now I have no desire to go back up.

In fact, a year and a half ago I bought skis just to appease my husband. And boots too. And I got pregnant two months later before the snow ever even fell. The one time in my life I was thankful for Murphy's Law.

So yeah, I hate winter and I hate winter sports, which means that for 4-6 months of the year I'm inside and slightly miserable. This weekend winter finally released its grasp on Upstate NY, and we took full advantage and brought the kids outside.

I wish I would have brought my camera out with me, all I had is my phone (lesson learned, mama). Reese and Ryan were hysterically funny as they put their bare feet in the grass for the first time. They kept curling and uncurling their toes and then looking up at us to make sure things were still okay and then curling and uncurling their toes again. Lots of smiling happened. Too cute.

My mom brought the kids back sun hats from a recent trip she took to the Galapagos Islands (yes, like Darwin's islands. She's a unique one, that grandma of ours). I swear the kids aren't going to fit into the hats until they're thirty. Proof:

{ Reese kind of doesn't even look real in this picture }

{ Ryan had to borrow Reese's hat to keep the sun out of his eyes }

{ Daddy proving that only people in their 30's can fit into this hat }

Being outdoors with the babies was great for them and for me. I was starting to feel like the living room walls were closing in on us. I can't wait for the weather to get even warmer so we can hang outside all day. The kids caught a few naps, and Gracie got some much-needed play time.

And for a typical family photo - here's a parent with a paci in mouth, the dog trying to lick the heck out of one of the babies, and a baby sitting up wondering what crazy family s/he was born into.

While we hung out outside, the folks from our shed company stopped by and set up the pad for our new backyard shed which is being installed Easter week. I cannot wait. Joe will finally be able to get all of the lawn and snow maintenance crap out of the garage and we'll have room for, you guessed it, more kid crap. Most importantly our stroller. I love it, but my first car may have taken up less room in a garage. 

We have this pop-up kid tent that we previously used for the dog. I'm planning on breaking that out soon, with the intent that we'll spend our days outside playing and napping. I checked the ten day forecast and it's all warm, all sunny, all day. Thank god winter is finally over.